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Permalink Reply by zack burnett on December 14, 2010 at 6:01am

I was pretty much in your shoes 3 years ago and since then we have built up a nice little business.  I don't really have any specific resources to recommend other than the whole Roast Magazine catalogue and the Ken Davids book that has already been mentioned.  You should also consider joining the roasters guild or any other roasters organizations in your region.

I think keeping good records and shooting for repeatability once a good profile is found is the best way to teach yourself to roast.  I quickly found that trying to repeat someones profiles is not only ineffective but extremely frustrating. Following someone else's profile is most likely not going to give you similar results.  I think you would be better off developing your own profiles while keeping great notes especially of when and at what temperature the crack(s) occur and how adjusting the relationship between time and temperature affects cup character.  

I have been roasting commercially for just over three years now so I am FAR from an expert but I feel that every day I learn more about my craft and that my roasting is constantly improving while staying consistent.  I think that if you can say the same thing after a little while then you are on the right path.

So, keep extremely detailed notes, taste your coffee constantly, research your craft constantly and learn something new everyday and you should come up with some great results.   Good luck and have fun!  

There are also some roasting schools you can attend, and that I hope to attend one day, that I have heard great things about.

Hope some of this helps, I didn't have too much time to think about it at the moment.

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Permalink Reply by Kim Anderson on December 14, 2010 at 7:47am

Thanks Andrew! I've read Home Coffee Roasting and it was a good beginning. I'll check out the other.

Thanks again, Kim

Andrew Mangino said:

I read the book HOME COFFEE ROASTING: ROMANCE & REVIVAL, revised, updated edition. by Kenneth Davids. I found it on Amazon.com and was a great place to start. Good luck.

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Permalink Reply by Kim Anderson on December 14, 2010 at 7:59am

Thank you Zack~ I love this site because there is a collection of amazing "coffee" people! This has been a great new venture and the learning curve is steep. I am amazed that we have found a Guatemalan that we've roasted and love the flavor, but trying to repeat it has been amazingly tough. We haven't added a "bean probe" so we're staring at the temp gauge, attempting to replicate. But, it's pretty cool when the end result is in the cooling tray!

Anywho, thanks for your information, I'll keep on studying!

Kim

zack burnett said:

I was pretty much in your shoes 3 years ago and since then we have built up a nice little business.  I don't really have any specific resources to recommend other than the whole Roast Magazine catalogue and the Ken Davids book that has already been mentioned.  You should also consider joining the roasters guild or any other roasters organizations in your region.

I think keeping good records and shooting for repeatability once a good profile is found is the best way to teach yourself to roast.  I quickly found that trying to repeat someones profiles is not only ineffective but extremely frustrating. Following someone else's profile is most likely not going to give you similar results.  I think you would be better off developing your own profiles while keeping great notes especially of when and at what temperature the crack(s) occur and how adjusting the relationship between time and temperature affects cup character.  

I have been roasting commercially for just over three years now so I am FAR from an expert but I feel that every day I learn more about my craft and that my roasting is constantly improving while staying consistent.  I think that if you can say the same thing after a little while then you are on the right path.

So, keep extremely detailed notes, taste your coffee constantly, research your craft constantly and learn something new everyday and you should come up with some great results.   Good luck and have fun!  

There are also some roasting schools you can attend, and that I hope to attend one day, that I have heard great things about.

Hope some of this helps, I didn't have too much time to think about it at the moment.

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Permalink Reply by David Lanning on December 14, 2010 at 10:15am

Hey Kim,

 

I'm actually very new to roasting myself, and can't agree with you more about the joy it brings.

 

There's a great book called The Art and Craft of Coffee which has a lot of solid information. Another is The Coffee Companion. Both good reads.

 

I agree with Zack who suggests not trying to duplicate someone else's roast profile. While you can learn from them, you might stifle your own creativity. While there are definite do's and don'ts, it's sometimes what you don't know that could be the next breakthrough in roasting.

 

That being said, here are some good links to check out:

 

Coffee Roasting Profile (Boot Coffee)

Developing Light Roasts (Boot Coffee)

 

Happy Roasting!

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